The Hill, 27 July 2014 – The Obama administration has quietly moved an additional 62 advisers to Iraq over the past three weeks, according to defense officials.
The additions bring the total number of advisers in the country to 242, still short of the 300 advisers that President Obama authorized for Iraq last month.
The uptick of the additional advisers on the ground was not publicized by the administration. The last update on the advisers came on July 1st, when the Pentagon said 180 had been sent to Iraq.
The advisers’ initial assessment was delivered to Pentagon officials last week, and will form the basis of recommendations to Obama about further U.S. military assistance.
Pentagon officials said on July 15 it was “possible” that more authorized advisers could flow into Iraq before those recommendations are made, and also said there had been an increase in staffing at the joint operations centers.
“The staffing there has increased somewhat, not much, but a little bit,” said Pentagon Press Secretary Rear Adm. John Kirby said.
According to information provided by defense officials on Friday, about 20 of the new “advisers” in Iraq are members of a command and control unit established around July 14.
The unit was created to provide a new layer of management for the 200 U.S. forces who were ordered on June 30 to reinforce security for diplomatic facilities, personnel, and the Baghdad International Airport. 
Soon after the creation of the unit, the Pentagon added about 40 additional personnel to the security mission — some to replenish those who stood up a joint operations center in Erbil.
Overall, there are now 707 U.S. forces deployed to Iraq, up from 650 on July 1st.
Lawmakers have sharply questioned the administration about the use of the advisers.